Pearce is down to one fit striker after Nathan Delfouneso, of Aston Villa, and Leicester’s Martyn Waghorn picked up injuries in Thursday’s European Championship qualifier in Iceland and he pondered turning to Welbeck for Monday night’s match in Norway. However, Pearce revealed a chat with Ferguson ended those plans. The England Under-21 manager said: “I spoke to Sir Alex straight after the [Iceland] game. “He had concerns about Danny travelling back from Montenegro [with England’s senior side] and then getting on a plane to Oslo.
“I quite understood that but I had to make the call because I’ve only got one striker in the squad. I had a decent chat with him and moved on from there. I quite understand his position.”Pearce’s side are top of Group Eight after two games and travel to Norway to play their second match in five days on the back of the 3-0 win in Iceland, secured thanks to an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain hat-trick. Tottenham’s Kyle Walker will be another absentee. “His girlfriend’s due to have a baby in the next week or so and he had concerns about being away,” Pearce said.
England Under-21s last played Norway in a friendly prior to Euro 2011, winning 2-0 at Southampton in June, but Pearce insists there is no comparison with the side they will face on Monday night. “This isn’t the Norway side of the last time we came here and it’s not even the Norway side we played prior to the Championship,” Pearce added. “They have some very good players and it’ll be a tough test for us. “They’ve won both of their games on the road so far in the group so arguably they can say they are the best in the group. But we know that if we can get a good result here it’ll put us in a strong position. “This group is very unforgiving. They are on home soil and will want to win it to back up two victories on the road. It’s a tough game for us.”
It will be the first time Pearce’s side will play a competitive match on a 4G artificial pitch, which comes with its own challenges. “It’s our first time on the 4G. We’ve trained on it once, we’ll train on it again tomorrow and then it’s the game, so by the time it comes round we’ll be used to it,” he said. “Usually teams only let you come on a grass pitch for an hour the night before a fixture, but for this one we’ve had the opportunity to have two good sessions on this. We’ve changed our training to make sure we get plenty of passing in to get an understanding of how the ball moves.